The off-and-on ramblings of a Long Island guy (with help from his partner). There's no format, other than sharing what I feel like sharing.
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Wednesday, August 30, 2006

We got to Ogunquit Friday evening. Patrick and Greg hadn't arrived yet, so we checked in and then went to find something for dinner. A nearby restaurant called the Blue Water Inn provided a wonderful seafood dinner (and what else were we going to eat in coastal Maine?).

Later that night, Patrick and Greg arrived. By the time they arrived, all we (or they) could do was sleep. So things really got started the next morning. In addition to Patrick and Greg, Chris and Jimmy arrived. They were lovely, and we hit it off from the start.

Come to think of it, let's start with the rain in New York. The weather as we left for our weekend up north foreshadowed much of the trip. Fortunately, it wasn't quite as bad as when we first left, but it wasn't exactly a dry weekend either.

Fortunately, that didn't continue for too long (or we would have needed an ark!). Since we weren't in a rush, we had time for a small detour. We stopped in Bethel, CT, for one of the best hamburgers around. By the way, Greg tells me that Bethel isn't pronounced beth-el. Rather, it's something like bethull or bethl. That second e isn't accented. Just in case you want to know!

Anyhow, if you're ever in the area, the burgers at the Sycamore drive-in are fabulous.

Friday, August 25, 2006

Tomorrow, a cousin is getting married in New Hampshire. He's straight, but we don't hold that against him.

So our plan is to drive up today and stay in nearby Ogunquit, Maine, on the coast. It should be lovely.

We're making a long weekend of it, and we're going to meet Patrick and Greg, as well as two friends of theirs. Meeting new people should be nice, but spending a long weekend with good friends is always a special treat.

The truth is, I'm so tired right now that sitting right here all weekend is appealing, but I'm sure the trip will be lovely!

Our friend Tom is going to stay here with the dogs, so we don't have to worry about them. Should be a good weekend!

By the way, what's this crap on my television? I'm usually at work by now. Since I'm actually home at the moment, I just saw some of the crap on the networks in the morning. Who's watching this dreck? Horrible!

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Tonight, on my way home, I saw two NYPD officers perform their duties (or, rather, fail to perform them) in a way that was shameful.

I had just gotten off the subway at Penn Station. As I was heading into the main area of the station, the man in front of me kicked out his leg. At first, I wasn't sure if that was a gesture of frustration, but it quickly became clear that it was a lot more than that--it was a real kick. Whether it connected or not, I don't know, but it was aimed at the man in front of him. I know that, because he then punched the man in front of him in the side, in the face, knocked him down and continued the attack.

I'd like to say I instantly jumped into action, but there was a second of pure shock and disbelief. Then I and a number of other people broke it up. Not like I had to fight it out--nothing so macho--but I grabbed the guy's left arm while other men grabbed him, too.

The police were there pretty quickly. Two cops showed up. The attacker said the other guy kicked at him and/or elbowed him--his story seemed flexible, to say the least. He tried some bullshit line about being "an old man." He was probably in his late 50s. Pretty damn sad if you think of yourself as old at that age, but the truth is he was just full of shit.

Meanwhile, the other guy, who I'd say was in his 30s, was dazed and truly hurt. The welt/bruise/bleeding spot next to his left eye was about the size of a golf ball.

These two cops said to the hurt guy, "if you press charges against him, then he'll press charges against you, and we'll have to arrest both of you, because we don't know who attacked who." With that, I and several other people began shouting at them that we saw who the attacker was. The cops completely ignored all of us, bullied the victim into letting it go, and then let the madman walk away. That was for the best, of course, since they didn't want to have to fill out paperwork and otherwise do justice. That's just too tedious!

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

We've got a long weekend coming up, but I really feel wiped out. I can't take a big chunk of time off right now, but it really would feel good! Well, maybe a full night's sleep sometime soon will help. :)

I'm an officer in one of the prominent groups in New York for folks in my profession. I had taken Friday off, so Marc and I could enjoy Thursday night (our anniversary) and sleep in on Friday. Still, being so involved in the aforementioned group, I couldn't very well skip a function we had scheduled for Friday night.

As nice as the event might be, the idea of dressing up and heading into Manhattan on a day off wasn't ideal. Oh well, no use fighting it. The best part was that Marc was going to come along. So off we went to the train, Marc, me and our little Canon Elph...